Rite Aid Corp. has promoted Tony Montini executive vice president of merchandising.

The drug chain said that in his new post, Montini will oversee field merchandising and the retailer's new store format development on top of his current responsibilities for category management.

Rite Aid's new store formats include wellness stores, value+ stores and co-branded Save-A-Lot/Rite Aid stores.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. has promoted Tony Montini executive vice president of merchandising.

In addition, Rite Aid said Monday that it has appointed Bryan Shirtliff to the new position of senior vice president of merchandising.

Montini most recently served as senior vice president of category management. In his new post,  he will oversee field merchandising and the retailer’s new store format development on top of his current responsibilities for category management, according to Rite Aid. He continues to report to chief operating officer Ken Martindale.

Rite Aid’s new store formats include wellness stores, value+ stores and co-branded Save-A-Lot/Rite Aid stores.

Tony Montini

"Tony has done a terrific job this past year in strengthening our category management department and further building upon our strong relationships with suppliers," Martindale said in a statement. "With his broad-based retail experience and expertise in chain drug merchandising and marketing, he will be a great asset in strengthening our field merchandising capabilities and continuing the development of the new store formats that are part of our segmentation strategy."

Montini joined Rite Aid in February 2010 as senior vice president of category management after serving as executive vice president and COO of the national advertising agency Marc USA, which has been the drug store chain’s agency of record since 1979. His prior Rite Aid experience includes serving as senior vice president of category management from 2002 through 2003 and as the retailer’s vice president of purchasing from 1987 through 1989.

Montini’s retail experience also includes serving as senior vice president and general merchandise manager for the drug store business at K-Mart as well as executive merchandising positions with the former Revco and Reliable drug chains. He also served as senior vice president of sales for the vitamin manufacturer Leiner Health Products.

Meanwhile, Shirtliff, currently senior vice president of business development, now will also be responsible for front-end merchandising, as well as continue his duties overseeing the company’s store segmentation initiatives, Rite Aid said. He will report to Montini.

Shirtliff was named senior vice president of business development early last year after having served as senior vice president of category management.  In the newly created position, he was charged with developing merchandising initiatives to support Rite Aid’s store segmentation strategy, which involves grouping stores with similar characteristics and creating a business plan for each group.